Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and two assists Wednesday night as the Nashville Predators closed their disappointing season with a 5-1 rout over the visiting Dallas Stars, who limp into the playoffs on a seven-game losing streak.
Jordan Oesterle and Jonathan Marchessault each recorded a goal and an assist, while Juuse Saros made 29 saves for the Predators (30-44-8, 68 points).
Back after missing 58 games due to a hip injury, Dallas’ Tyler Seguin assisted on Mason Marchment’s goal less than 20 seconds into the game. The Stars (50-26-6, 106 points), who went 0-for-6 on the power play Wednesday, finished second in the Central Division and will host Colorado in the first round of the playoffs. They have allowed 34 goals during their 0-5-2 slide.
While Dallas got Seguin back, Jason Robertson, second on the team with 80 points and among the NHL’s top players, exited in the second period with a lower-body injury.
Just 16 seconds into the contest, Matt Duchene fluttered a pass near the front of the net to Marchment, who sent it by Saros. But it was all Predators from there.
Nashville answered with 6:58 remaining in the first. Oesterle’s shot benefited from a redirect off Stars forward Mavrik Bourque’s and by a seemingly unsuspecting Adam Oettinger, who stopped 17 of 22 shots through two periods before giving way to backup Casey DeSmith (12 saves).
Just 49 seconds later, the Predators went ahead. Oesterle sent a pass into the slot for Jakub Vrana, who put it past Oettinger.
The hosts made it 3-1 with 15 seconds left before the initial intermission. On some tic-tac-toe passing from O’Reilly and Luke Evangelista, a net-crashing Justin Barron pushed the puck off the glove of Oettinger and in.
Nashville continued their offensive surge 6:31 into the second. More elite passing, this time from stars Filip Forsberg (two assists) and Steven Stamkos rewarded Marchessault, who converted amid net-front traffic.
With 10:11 left in the second, Forsberg drew attention in the slot on a power play then sent the puck to O’Reilly to convert.
